Moments after President Barack Obama finished his State of the Union address last week, members of Congress were already picking apart the speech. Some, such as Tea Party favorite Rep. Steve King, thought the president was less antagonistic to congressional Republicans than in previous speeches. But “he could have pulled all of the Obamacare out… Read More

Efforts to keep a significant collection of artifacts seized from Iraq’s Jewish community by Saddam Hussein from being returned to the Gulf nation by the United States may be picking up steam on Capitol Hill. With just months to go before a June deadline mandates the return of the religious archive, Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.),… Read More

On Thursday, Feb. 6, Paula Farbman boarded a plane to London with a treasure sitting on her lap. Inside a zipped clothing travel bag and encased in bubble wrap was a Torah scroll that dated to the 1700s and was used in a small Czech town that was decimated by the Holocaust. The scroll is… Read More

Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski III, president of University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Greg Simmons, vice president, testified at a hearing of the budget and taxation subcommittee on education in Annapolis. The testimony, which was met with general praise, included plans of innovative course redesign, use of data analytics and collaboration with educational institutions. Most… Read More

Ohr Chadash Academy will be moving to a new space for the 2014-2015 school year to accommodate its growing size. The K-8 Orthodox day school will be moving to the second floor of Temple Oheb Shalom, the former home of the Shoshana S. Cardin School, which closed in 2013. Ohr Chadash, which has been open… Read More

The Baltimore Jewish Council passed a policy statement at its Jan. 30 meeting condemning deceptive proselytizing. “For centuries, attempts have been made to convert the Jewish people to Christianity, and the Jewish community has always resisted these attempts,” the statement said. “In that vein, it is disconcerting that these ‘Messianic Jews’ or ‘Hebrew Christians’ have… Read More

After months of rumors and one postponed announcement, Change Maryland founder and Annapolis real estate executive Larry Hogan formally declared his gubernatorial candidacy last week at an Annapolis crab shack. “I didn’t make this decision to run for governor out of a desire to be something. I decided to run because I feel an obligation… Read More

Richard M. Lansburgh, a retired clothier known for his dedication to philanthropic work, died on Jan. 28 at the age of 91, just a day before his 92nd birthday. Lansburgh was born in 1922 to Sidney Lansburgh Sr., and the former Marian Epstein. He was also the grandson of renowned Baltimore entrepreneur and philanthropist Jacob… Read More

For Monique Tracy, raising Maryland’s minimum wage would be the difference between living paycheck to paycheck and having some money to spare. “It would help me a lot,” said Tracy, 25, an employee at a Rite Aid in Pikesville. Tracy has been working at the store for two years. Her $8-an-hour salary must pay her… Read More

A woman was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday in Baltimore County Circuit Court for assaulting, stalking and burglarizing a Pikesville couple. Stephanie Kamlot, 41, was given 10 years with all but five suspended by Judge John Turnbull II. She pleaded guilty Feb. 4 to second-degree assault, stalking and fourth-degree burglary. She must also… Read More